


Dear strange alien who I hope does not wish to kill us all

by GateBreaker



Series: Stardust Collisions [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Culture, Alien Invasion, Aliens, Communication, Gen, History, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, I hope, Language Barrier, Languages and Linguistics, Letters, Maybe - Freeform, Mentions of Myth & Folklore, Why Did I Write This?, explaining things, probably not
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 08:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16425650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GateBreaker/pseuds/GateBreaker
Summary: Language is a friend and an enemy. A confident and the most ingenious betrayer. It hurts and it loves. It can make you cry and it can make you laugh. It’s a paradox wrapped in an oxymoron shrouded in a conundrum and smothered in contradictions.It’s multifaceted and impossible, terrible and incredible. It’s symphony and dissonance working together.And so very much human.





	Dear strange alien who I hope does not wish to kill us all

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as for an assignment. The point was to write a letter to an alien talking and explaining language. This alien may or may not understand what we are saying, but that is up to us.  
> I don't think this came out all that well. Seems a little clunky to me, but I just couldn't look at this anymore without wanting to tear off my hair, so here it is.  
> I'll post the second part (the alien's response) later. I'm still working on it.  
> English is not my first language, so I apologize for any typos or grammar errors.  
> Hope you enjoy! ^.^

Dear strange alien who I hope does not wish to kill us all,

I feel like explaining to you what language _is_ , as opposed to teaching you how to _understand_ it (all the while debating the benefits and drawbacks of having you as a friend in case of a Halloween costume contest), is somewhat irrelevant when faced with the existence of life beyond our little cradle of home on a remote corner of this vast universe.

Of course, there’s also the fact that trying to explain language in a language you most likely do not understand also feels redundant and useless in the grand scheme of things.

But I digress.

I’ll try to face this as simply talking to someone of another country… with _distinct_ language capabilities, I suppose.

To start, I should probably go back to the beginning. No, not the _beginning_ beginning. But the beginning of the spoken word. Way back, before the leaps of science or the diversity of literature, or even the knowledge and certainty that the sun will rise every morning, day after day, following a brief period of darkness called “night”. Or, at least, in English. Night, noite, nuit, note, nacht, yoru… They all mean the same, yet all told in different languages. That’s right. Different languages. Because language is an intricate invention, massive and baffling in many ways.

In fact, it’s so vast and different that there are thousands of variations. There are some that aren’t even spoken! Sign language (which is itself diverse, as well) and maths, for example. Would you understand me better if I used numbers and equations and complex algorithms instead, I wonder?

Some have perished. The so called dead languages, of which Latin is a big part of. With no one alive left to speak them, they’re eventually forgotten and are merely whispers in the winds. Others gave birth to the ones we have today… also like Latin.

Latin is a big part of the old languages and an important marker in verbal history, is what I’m trying to say.

But I’m straying from the main point. The beginning. The beginning was moulded from half formed thoughts and scarcely there intelligence. We have language because we think, and we think because we have language. Before we had words - to associate to objects, actions, people - we were… I suppose we were no more intelligent than any other animal. Yes, we could point and grunt, and the way the body moves is a language all on its own, but to effectively communicate with our peers, the ability to vocally communicate was key.

We think because we have language, or better yet, we developed our thinking process beyond the capabilities of our fellow animals, because we established wording, linguistics. A way to communicate with our companions succinctly and efficiently. Which gave us an advantage when it came to the survival of our species. A way to form thoughts and inner musings.

And so much more followed this human creation. Many _because_ of this human creation.

Books, or more precisely, the written word and the new ability to store huge amounts of information in delicate pieces of paper. Writing revolutionized the world once more, just like its predecessor. Knowledge evolved, science progressed. Scientific studies were recorded and shared and developed throughout the centuries. Pieces of history chronicled and saved and destroyed and found and lost. Tales and myths and legends. They conveyed the impossible and the improbable and the fantastical. They told truths. They told lies. They told fiction and of the reality that surrounds us. They took us far away to worlds never seen before, could make us fly like birds in the blue expanse of the sky or sail underneath the sea without losing so much as an ounce of breath. All in the comfort of the pages at your fingertips.

How is this possible, my star born friend? It isn’t.

But if you wish to know everything that has ever been, or ever will be, written, the Library of Babel is your best friend. It’s actually a little eerie what you can discover. You can find the description of your birth, every possible description of your death, every poem, every joke, every lie, anything that has been and possibly could be said can be found on the Library of Babel. It blurs the line between invention and discovery. Did you really discover or invent that something if its description already exists?

To actually have a grasp of its massiveness, there are 105000 pages offered by the Library of Babel. In comparison, there are only 1080 atoms in the observable universe.

But I suppose there’s a difference between this program permuting something unknowingly and a person actually meaning it, intending it, saying it because they want to with agency. We use a finite number of symbols to say things. For that reason, a library of every finite combination of those symbols can be made, but just because it can be made doesn’t mean it has been said.

I suppose it got its name from the story of the Tower of Babel. I won’t bore you with the details, but it allegedly tells us how multiple languages originated from one. It served as punishment. It’s just a story, of course. Not real. But it’s entertaining to hear, nonetheless.

Obviously, there are _other_ forms of languages. As I said, not all of them vocalised.

The visual language of painting and drawing originated alongside the verbal. They were a way to tell future generations of past victories, to warn them of the dangers and to caution them of their ancestors’ mistakes. An illustrated companion to the fictions of the mouth. And a way to persist beyond physical death. To relay feelings and imitate reality. To show humanity at its best and at its worst.

They were pleasure and pain, history and fiction. They were adored and hated, criticised and praised. They were and they are.

Sound and music came and stayed in the hearts and ears of men. Their voices still echo through time, telling tales of valour, and singing songs of legends.

And that is another thing. Legends.

Stories.

Stories became a staple of human life. Heroes and warriors rising from the tongues of the people and spilling over the world ahead. Living and dying inside the flames of admiration. And forgotten once the embers were extinguished.

Language, or even the lack of understanding another’s language, may very well have given rise to several conflicts throughout the ages of humanity’s existence. From minor skirmishes, from name calling or some sort of misunderstandings, to full out wars. Language has given rise to the fall of entire civilizations, and given birth to the death of empires.

In a way, isn’t it possible that that’s what’s happening here? I have no sure way of knowing if you understand me, no way of knowing if you would care for this little blue planet I call home. I don’t even know if sending a letter is somehow a way of declaring _war_ in your culture! Or of just simply insulting you and all your lineage… Either way, I don’t believe the end results would be pleasant…

How do I know what to say? What to speak, what to voice, what to state, what to express. Well, I learned. I learned like everyone else on this planet. By imitation.

You see, us humans have what’s called “mirror neurons”. And no, they’re not actually mirrors (if you’re even aware of what a mirror _is_ ), but they _do_ work similarly, after a fashion. Science isn’t yet entirely sure of their role, but common assumptions dictate that, basically, they reflect what they perceive. As in, they "mirror" the behaviour of the other individual. They’re important for learning new skills and for understanding the actions of other people, or in other words, they’re the neural basis of the human capacity for emotions such as empathy.

We learn language by imitating our parents, our teachers, our friends, our neighbours. Even the people we see on television. We learn by imitation. In the end, to be you, you have to be someone else first.

If it sounds complicated, it’s because it is. But don’t worry, you’re not alone. I can teach you if you want.

Could you teach me yours, though?

Language is a friend and an enemy. A confident and the most ingenious betrayer. It hurts and it loves. It can make you cry and it can make you laugh. It’s a paradox wrapped in an oxymoron shrouded in a conundrum and smothered in contradictions.

It’s multifaceted and impossible, terrible and incredible. It’s symphony and dissonance working together.

And so very much _human_.

For all its faults and misgivings. For all its wonders and marvels. It’s fundamentally, essentially, primarily, deeply and intrinsically _human_.

And I hope you get to experience everything it has to offer.

Sincerely,

The girl who loves her home (preferably intact and alien invasion free, please and thank you)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed, and if you found any error or misspelling please tell me.  
> Thanks for reading! ^.^


End file.
